Category:Backstory

There once was a great and prosperous kingdom called Arbitoria, ruled by House Clawe. The legend of House Clawe was that they were blessed with the ability to successfully rule, by a powerful visage of a Wyvern lord.. and that the blessing was passed down through blood. For many, many generations, House Clawe ruled over Arbitoria. The kingdom flourished and grew. Rulers sat the throne regardless of gender, their consorts obtaining titles and influence but the power stayed in House Clawe's thicket.

King Leif Clawe and his consort, Queen Lysneth, sat the throne when the Great Calamity hit. Monster of inconceivable size rose up to disrupt Arbitoria. Some came by land, others by sea. Each time a monster attacked and demolished a town, the brave Arbitorian warriors rose up to meet it. The kingdom rebuilt bigger and stronger after each attack. Again and again, the monsters attacked. Again and again, the monsters were beaten back. The kingdom as whole felt that there was no outer threat that could break them, not entirely anyhow. Politics and economies were strong and tightly aligned. House Clawe's closest ally was House Thorn. King Leif Clawe and Rother Thorn were the best of friends, and so too were their Houses.

House Thorn was a strong bunch, well known for their excellent fighters and beast slayers. Rother Thorn and his wife had two sons and several daughters. The eldest son was named Lazarus and the younger named Lucius. They each upheld the reputation of their House during the Great Calamity. Lazarus was to be the Head of House upon his father's death, and so was well trained in diplomacy.. while Lucius tended to skip out on lessons, in his preference for fighting and hunting. There was even a rumor spreading throughout the kingdom that the King's daughter was to be married to Lazarus Thorn. Lazarus did not wish to be Head of House, let alone, be arranged to marry his friend to become king. Eventually, on his twentieth nameday, he went before his father and forfeit his titles and land to join the King's Royal Guard. Rother was furious with his son, but naught could be done to change his mind. Rother then turned to his other son, Lucius, and began teaching him to be Head of House one day. Lucius had already been married, but his wife and children died during the Great Calamity. King Leif offered Lazarus a diplomatic mission across the sea in hopes of calming the flames between father and son, to which Lazarus gratefully consented.

House Hannon was another of the noble Houses of Arbitoria, and they were known for supplying the bulk of the Arbitorian militant forces. Gallow Hannon asked King Leif to marry his daughter to his son instead. The King refused the proposal, knowing full well his daughter would not approve the union. Gallow Hannon's son, Reyttoir, was a powerful brute of a man who took all that he wanted. In their blind rage, House Hannon rose up against House Clawe creating the first rebellion in the history of Arbitoria.

House Thorn rose to the defense of their King and Queen but were no match for the forces of House Hannon and several other smaller houses which joined the rebellion out of fear. House Thorn and House Clawe fought valiantly against people they once called friends. As night fell, they retreated to the Keep of the Rose, where they found no escape. House Hannon was breaking in the doors to great hall. King Leif looked around at the small force that was left and then he turned to his friend, Rother, and asked that he stand with him in the final hour of their beloved kingdom. They told their wives to leave them but they stood by their sides. King Leif then asked that Lucius and take the rest of their group away through the secret royal passage. Lucius did not want to leave his parents, nor the kingdom in which his wife and children lay buried, but the King's insistence made him swallow his pride. The last he saw of the four true leaders was that they stood side by side waiting for the door to burst apart, bracing to buy him time.

Lucius and the small group managed to get through the narrow passage which lead out to the sea cliffs. In a hidden cave below the exit, they found a small ship. It was hardly seaworthy, but it was their only hope, and so they got in and sailed away. Together they watched as the flames from the fields and houses lit up the smoke filled sky with a bright orange glow.

Shipwrecked, coughing, and spitting up seawater the maelstrom current pushed the survivors up onto land known as Ragnaros. Of the small group that escaped the Keep of the Rose that night, only four remained. Lucius, Zandar, Jace, and Evelynn.

Little did they know at the time.. that, together, they would start something truly remarkable.